Legacy of the Jedi
by SniperCT
Summary: The First Order is wounded. Rey grows close to a young pilot named Jessika Pava before leaving in search of Skywalker to be trained in the ways of the Force. What kind of legacy did Luke leave behind, and what kind of legacy will rise from the ashes of the Jedi Order? "There's something calling me. Neither light, nor dark, but somewhere in between..."
1. Heart of the Jedi I

"You've never been kissed?" Jess nearly choked on her caf. She wiped the back of her mouth and leaned over a little. Dameron was talking to Rey at another table in the mess and while it was rude to eavesdrop, Jess couldn't quite squash a sudden urge to _volunteer_.

Rey was shaking her head. "Do you really think I had any opportunities on Jakku? The only one interested was that old creep Unkar Plutt . You should have seen the way he looked at me sometimes." An involuntary shiver ran through her. "No thank you." She rested her elbows on the table and leaned towards Poe. "Why are you asking? Are you volunteering? You're cute but you're not really my type."

Poe feigned injury. "Not your type? Rey, you're breaking my heart." He smiled at her. "What's your type, then?"

Rey's eyes darted to the table where Jessika sat amongst several other pilots. It was a quick, fleeting movement but Poe caught it and his grin went wide and toothy. "Oh I get it."

Get what? Jess thought Rey might have looked at her but she wasn't sure, and she didn't want to look like an idiot. She lowered her head and pretended like she was focusing on her meal when in fact her stomach had so many butterflies she'd lost her appetite.

A loud laugh brought her attention back to Rey and Poe. They'd been joined by Finn, who was looking at his two friends with a confused expression on his face. The man shouldn't even be standing, but he was propped up on a pair of crutches. He'd been tired of being cooped up in the medical bay.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Have you ever been kissed?" Rey asked, looking suspiciously smug, even as she helped Finn sit down. Under her breath, she added. "You really shouldn't be up."

"Of course. I've been kissed. I've kissed a lot of people. Normal people do that. I'm a normal people. I've kissed so many people." He looked at Rey's dubious expression and sighed. "No, I've never been kissed."

"Poe volunteers. He thinks your jacket would look really good on his bedroom floor." Rey pushed Poe towards Finn and cackled at the expressions on their faces. This interaction this normal people interaction had been missing from her whole life and now that she had it she was reveling in it and the sound of the pilots and other resistencia members joining in on the laughter.

It might have been some form of revenge, Rey mused, that she found herself in the hangar the next day. Poe, who's hair had looked unusually rumpled that morning, had assigned her to assist one of the X-Wing pilots for the day. It was a task that she was excited about, so if it was punishment for teasing him she didn't really mind.

"Hello?" She called out as she circled around Blue Three. There was a thudding sound, then a curse and Jess dropped out from an access hatch beneath her fighter.

She looked at Rey, stared a moment, then cleared her throat. "Uh. Hey. Can I help you?"

"Poe said I should assist you today," Rey replied. She had a stray strand of hair on her cheek and Jess suppressed the mental image of brushing it aside. Rey bounced on her heels, unable to restrain her eagerness. It was adorable and Jess thought that wasn't fair.

"I'm running some diagnostics, then I'm going to take her up and make sure everything feels right, you know?" She put her hand on Rey's shoulder. "Everything goes well, I'll take you up with me. I promised you I would."

"Whatever you want, Jess!"

Rey's excitement washed over Jess like a wave. She walked Rey through the diagnostics, showing her what to look for and how to inspect and X-Wing. Rey picked up on it quickly - in many ways a ship was a ship and it was just a matter of adapting to each ship's unique quirks and learning where the common stress fracture points were.

Jess climbed up onto one of the S-foils, reaching down to help Rey up. "Pop open that panel there."

Nodding, Rey leaned over to do that. She felt Jess lean over as well. Close, almost too close but she didn't really mind. She liked the presence at her back, and counted Jess among her new friends. While she plugged in a reader, she asked, "Some of the other pilots say you know a lot of stories about the Rebellion. About Luke Skywalker."

"I'm pretty sure they get tired of me talking about it." She flushed a little, and realized she was creeping in too close to Rey. She reluctantly put a few more inches between them. "I don't know every story, but I know a few. I heard a new one from 3PO just a month ago."

There was a strange look in Rey's eyes, when she looked at her. "Can you tell me one?"

Jess stared, transfixed. "Yeah, sure. What do you want to hear?"

"Which one is your favorite?" She held out the reader, and Jess looked it over while considering the question.

"You'd think it would be one of the big stories. Blowing up the death star. Killing the Emperor. But I like some of the little ones. Risking everything to save his friends. How he always looked for the good in people." She handed the reader back, only then noticing that she had Rey's full, undivided attention. "How about I tell you about the time Luke Skywalker risked everything for Han Solo."

A shadow crossed Rey's eyes.

"Rey?"

"No, it's okay." She squeezed her hands around a spanner as fresh grief welled up inside of her. "Go ahead."

Wetting her lips, Jess leaned in. "Captain Solo had been captured by some bounty hunter, and the trail led to Tatooine…"

With Rey watching so intently, Jess found herself stumbling here and there over her words. She didn't think she was the best storyteller, but Rey seemed impressed, encouraging her and reacting with surprise or delight or shock depending on what she was hearing. And maybe it was her imagination or wishful thinking, but she swore up and down that Rey kept looking at her lips.

"He must have really cared for Han and Leia…" Rey rubbed her palms against her knees. "And you know. I can tell that they cared about him too. When Luke came up, there was so much sadness in Han's eyes. And when he looked at me… I don't know." It had almost been like he was looking at Luke, and not her. Hindsight and all that and maybe it meant something but Rey was firmly in denial about that possibility. "And the General wants to find her brother so badly."

"Well we have the map and I'm sure it won't be much longer before it's time to find him." She flashed a wide grin at Rey. The idea of meeting Luke Skywalker was both terrifying and exhilarating. She hoped she'd get the chance to shake his hand. Just once.

She pushed herself to her feet and held her hand out to Rey. "Okay, lets do another check and then we'll go up."

Rey clasped Jess's hand and let herself get pulled up. "I finally have an excuse to wear your lucky helmet. Not that I've ever needed a reason. I'm sure Finn told you how he caught me dancing around wearing just the helmet?"

"No," Jess said roughly, her face coloring as her imagination flared vividly to life. "He never said anything about that. Just..just the helmet? You had _clothing_ on right?"

"Oh." Rey smiled brightly. "Well. Our little secret then." She winked at Jess, then slid off the S-foil. Jess stared after her, unsure if Rey was flirting with her or completely innocent. Either way, that girl was trouble.

"You coming or what?"

"Yeah." Jess ruffled her fingers through her hair before hopping down to join Rey. "Lets get this bird into the air."


	2. Heart of the Jedi II

There were certain logistics that Jessika hadn't put thought into until she was sitting in the X-wing and realizing there was no safe place for Rey to sit. She looked out the open cockpit, seeing the other woman coming along. Rey had the lucky helmet on, the biggest grin Jess had ever seen plastered on her face. It was adorable and she closed her eyes for a moment to calm herself.

Okay, either Rey was going to sit in her lap or they needed to take out one of the trainers. Rather, the one two-seater they had. And while the first option was appealing, Jess was pretty sure she'd crash them on take-off. She climbed out and slid down the ladder. "Rey! Come with me."

"What is it?"

Jess motioned to the X-wing. "Not really enough room for two people unless you're willing to sit in my lap. But we've got a two-seater for training purposes that should do nicely."

Rey felt a little heat in her face. "We'd have to get awfully friendly wouldn't we. The two-seater is fine."

Jerking her head for Rey to follow her, Jess led her through the hangar. It was a small hangar, most of the X-wings kept outside unless they were in for maintenance or other reasons. Tucked away in a corner was a dusty red and gold X-wing. It was a little wider than standard models and it looked older than either of the women, but Rey could see two seats up in the cockpit. "Will this thing fly?"

"You get to run the preflight," Jess told her, grinning back at Rey when Rey's face split into a beaming smile.

"All by myself?"

"I trust you." She squeezed Rey's shoulder then took a step back. From here she could see if Rey missed anything, but she didn't think that would be the case. "Go ahead."

"Great." Rey rubbed her hands together, and moved under the wing. She trailed her fingers along the titanium alloy, grinning to herself. It was in remarkably good shape for being an older training model. It wasn't much different from checking her speeder or the sims back on Jakku, so she gave herself a few minutes to worry about Finn. She'd had to take him back to the infirmary but he'd told her to go on and not hover. "S-foils and fuselage look good. I'm a bit worried about the landing gear."

"We'll try not to land it too hard." Jess laughed.

Clucking her tongue, Rey checked a panel, then reached into it and secured a wire. "Stabilizer is loose. Fixed it."

"Wow." Jess sounded surprised. "You know, you're the first person to ever catch that?"

Rey peered around one landing strut. "I'm sorry?"

"The loose stabilizer." Jess flashed her a sheepish smile. "We always do that on purpose, but no one ever catches it."

"Clever, I like that. Would have made for a shakey first flight. I had a similar problem with my speeder on Jakku, wire kept coming loose." She stepped up to Jess and gave her a grin. "She's ready to fly."

"You go up front." Jess steadied Rey's foot as she climbed up to the cockpit, before following her up and settling into the cramped seat behind her. "Taxi us outside." She flipped on one of the comms. "Control, this is Blue Three. I'm taking the trainer out for a spin. I'm showing the new girl some of the ropes."

"Roger that, Blue Three, have fun."

A voice broke in, "Showing Rey the ropes, eh?" Rey didn't seem to notice, so Poe was only talking to Jess.

She kept her voice low. "I offered to take her up in an X-wing, and I thought that she might enjoy flying it."

"Just be careful with her, okay? She's capable but I don't think she has much experience with people."

Jess frowned, and cut Poe off. "Rey?"

"Yes?"

"Do you want to take us up, or should I?"

Rey turned in her seat to look at Jess. "I want to see how you fly, Testor."

No pressure, she thought. "I'm no Poe Dameron, but I've got a few moves." They'd barely cleared the hangar when she took them nearly straight up. Rey let out a surprised shout, then laughed as the X-Wing twisted through the sky. Jess took them through a tight arc, the old bird fighting her every step of the way.

The forest loomed in the cockpit and then they were skimming the tops of the trees at high speeds. Jess twisted the controls and the X-Wing screamed down a river. Rey's stomach lept into her throat as they suddenly shot straight down a waterfall before the craft rose high into the air. Rey started to breathe again as the curve of the planet became more obvious. "Wow. The Falcon is nimble but that was something else."

"Ready?"

"Really?" Rey grinned, looking over her shoulder at Jess. She hadn't quite believed that Jess would actually let her fly and even now she questioned whether or not it would happen. Rey just wasn't used to people being nice to her.

"Really."

Flexing her fingers around the joystick, Rey nodded and squeezed it tight. "Okay. I'm ready." Jess activated the controls in the front seat and set hers to emergency settings.

"All yours."

Rey's breath rang in her ears as she held the X-Wing steady. She looked out the cockpit at the ground so far below, then put her hand on the throttle. They shot forward so quickly that Jess was pressed hard against her seat. Instinctively she grabbed for the controls before stopping herself. Instead she gripped a convenient handhold some previous flight trainer had welded into place.

The first thing Rey noticed was the starboard engine. It seemed to produce about 5% more thrust than the port engine, which meant she had to continually adjust to compensate. On a short flight like this it wouldn't be a problem and she could think of a few combat scenarios where it would be useful, but on a long flight or engagement it would make the pilot fatigued. She adjusted the starboard engine until she wasn't fighting the stick anymore. She started with basic barrel rolls, then she dove, taking the X-Wing through increasingly complex maneuvers, at least two of which Jess had only ever done in simulators.

"Want to see how we evaded the First Order on Jakku?" Rey's voice was breathless as the g-forces of her turn knocked her around.

"Yeah," Jess laughed. "Holy shit you're good!"

"Back on Jakku, I built this flight sim. It eventually got so boring that I'd invent disasters and impossible situations to try to fly my way out of. I'd never actually expected to ever use some of those moves." There was a name for the maneuver, but Rey couldn't remember it right now. She'd done it a thousand times in her sim, and once for real.

She brought the nose of the X-wing up, then yanked hard on the stick while cutting the engines. The craft spun around, and then gravity took hold of them and they started to fall. But they'd done a full one-eighty and Rey brought power back to the engines and angled them towards the ground as Jess let out a woop.

"I'm starting to think we should switch seats." Jess let go of the handhold. Rey was _amazing_ , a natural talent that she'd trust to have on her wing in just about any skirmish.

Rey rolled the X-Wing lazily, unable to wipe the grin off her face, or the blush from Jess's praise. "Can we go into space?"

"Yeah, but let me take control. I want to show you something before you play around."

It really did feel like play. No danger of being attacked, just the two of them and the galaxy at their fingertips. Rey knew the craft had a hyperdrive. That they could go anywhere they wanted. Escape.

But she had reasons to stay, and she couldn't exactly kidnap one of the Resistance's pilots.

The sky darkened quickly as they left the atmosphere. Rey started out at a blanket of stars, but her eyes were drawn to the planet's rings. She'd only seen them in passing before bringing the Falcon down to the surface.

They were approaching the rings rapidly, and then Jess turned them over as she arced the X-Wing around the rings. Rey pushed the visor of her helmet up and stared up (or rather down) at the rings. "It's beautiful…"

"I've always thought so. I kind of hoped that maybe you'd like them too." Jess chewed on her lip, watching the woman in front of her instead of the rings passing beneath them like a track.

"I do."

"Here," Jess murmured. "Controls are yours."

"If you don't mind," Rey said, her eyes still transfixed on the rings. Something, somewhere called to her, but though she tried to listen she couldn't quite hear it. "I'll just keep us on our present course."

Smile softening, Jess nodded. "Yeah. I like the sound of that."


	3. Heart of the Jedi III

Rey had a habit of watching Finn sleep. He went through spells like this, where it didn't seem like he'd come out of it, and others where he could move around. The doctors had put him under again for another treatment and she didn't think he'd wake again for hours, at least. She thought they should put him in a bacta tank, but their bacta supplies were scarce. Rey was considering what she could do to scavenge some up.

Poe came in sometimes too. Rey liked him more and more as she got to know him. He seemed like a good man and his interest in Finn was obvious even to her. She was more than happy to assist - she very strongly cared about Finn, but not in the way he was crushing on her. At least that's what someone had told her. She'd just thought that Finn was very friendly, but looking back at it in hindsight…

It didn't really matter. She'd protect Finn with her life if it came to it.

"Care for a game?" Poe held up a sabacc deck. "Doc says he'll be out another six hours, they're trying something different for his back."

"Sure thing," Rey said. She moved a chair over for Poe to sit on, then guided a hovering tray between them for the cards.

"Why don't we deal Finn in?" Poe flashed her a grin.

Rey glanced at their friend, then nodded with a smile. "If you're sure. He'll probably clean us out."

It was actually difficult for Rey to sleep. Even though the room she'd been assigned was utilitarian, the bed was still too soft, and there was too much noise. The distant echo of machines and people. She was too used to being alone, just herself and the sound of the wind across the sand dunes.

And to make matters worse, her feet were freezing. She pulled her boots on and left the room, hoping maybe she could find a place that would be easier for her to sleep. If she could even wind herself down enough to do so.

The base was colder than she was used to. Nowhere near as bad as Starkiller Base had been, but still well below the threshold that she considered comfortable.

"Hey." Jessika's head popped out from a doorway, startling Rey. "Can't sleep?"

"No. Not really. Too loud and too cold." Rey's lips twitched and she looked down at herself and the way she'd wrapped her arms around herself.

"Want to come in?"

"Sure." Rey followed Jess back into the room. It was almost as small as hers, though a lot less spartan and more chaotic. Old Rebellion propaganda posters were taped haphazardly to one wall, mixed with paintings of what looked like Jedi. A dejarik table sat near a display. There was a bunk bed against another wall, and Rey looked at it closely. "Where's your bunk mate?"

Jess smiled, the expression almost haunted. "I don't have one. Not anymore. He was shot down over Starkiller Base."

Rey immediately felt bad for bringing it up. "I'm so sorry."

"He was a good man. Used to drive him nuts when I'd leave my boots in the wrong place. Or when anything was left in the wrong place." Jess's smile brightened. "Best prank I ever saw was when we reversed everything in this room. He walked in and screamed."

Laughing, Rey took a seat on the edge of the bottom bunk. "That sounds means."

"He dyed my flight suit fifteen different colors. it was revenge!"

"Ah, escalation." Rey had never been in a prank war. She'd read about one once, in a story she'd found on an old ship about a padawan who'd short-sheeted her masters bedding. She didn't know how true it was, but it had been a funny story.

"It ended up involving the General." Jess lifted her hand to her hair, ruffling her fingers through it. "She...uh there was an unfortunately timed incident involving buckets of soap."

Rey stared for a moment, then looked down at her feet as she tried to imagine General Organa covered in soap. "That couldn't have been good."

"We all got chewed out. Then a few days later we got some orders and scrambled right? Supposed to be a blue milk run, something easy. I thought it would just be an escort. Something like that."

Rey looked up again. "And then what?"

Looking up at the ceiling and trying to keep a straight face, Jess continued. "We jumped to the assigned coordinates. There was this freighter waiting for us. But it wasn't an escort. It was a pick up. We each had to dock with the freighter and take on a crate in the cockpit with us."

"What was in the crates?" Rey scooted over as Jess sat down next to her. It was almost too close, and she rubbed her hands on her knees.

"Milk," Jess replied, a grin spreading across her face. "The general sent us out on an actual, real live blue milk run."

Rey laughed. "I like her. That's so brilliant."

"It was. We drank nothing but that milk for weeks. That was probably the real punishment." Jess shook her head. She glanced over at Rey, started to move her hand over then changed her mind. "You look cold."

"Not used to this planet yet." She shrugged. "I'll adapt."

"We _could_ pull the blanket off, I have some old holos I picked up a few years ago. Most of them are really bad. Sometimes a bunch of us will get together and watch them."

"Never seen a full, uncorrupted one. I was lucky to have things I could read." She kicked her boots off as Jess tugged a blanket loose. It took them a few moments to get settled, but Jess's heart nearly stopped when Rey leaned against her.

She turned her head to look more closely at Rey. The woman's eyes were closed, and her breathing had slowed. Jess chewed on her lip. If Rey was asleep, this was hardly the most comfortable position for either of them. She didn't have to worry about it though, because Rey peeked at her with one eye. "Ever since I left Jakku, I keep breaking all my rules for myself. I let myself get close to people. I think I might actually have _friends_. People I can trust. Every time I've trusted someone it's come back to bite me in the ass."

Jess's cheeks colored, and she didn't respond right away. Instead she rested her cheek on the top of Rey's hair as she sorted through a gamut of emotions before speaking. "I don't think you have anything to worry about here. Finn seems like the kind of person to fight anyone who'd hurt you, and the rest of us will help. Besides. if you're going to break the rules, might as well go all out, right?"

"I still can't get used to all of these people." Rey laughed. "And the way some of them look at me. Like I'm something more than I am. And I don't even know what I am."

"How do you think I look at you?" There were so many rumors that Jess didn't know how to separate truth from fiction. She just knew there was something about Rey that spoke to her, and that it went beyond the clear attraction she felt for the woman.

Rey pulled her head out from under Jess's cheek, and looked at her. She searched Jess's eyes. And maybe there was something else there, like how Finn had looked at her a few times. But where she only felt fond affection for him, she was starting to feel something else entirely from the way Jess looked at her.

"...I'm still trying to figure that out. But I don't think it's anything bad." She put her hand on Jessika's knee. "Thank you, for letting me fly. And for spending time with me."

"You don't have to thank me for that." A little voice in the back of Jess's mind prayed that Rey wouldn't move her hand, even as another little voice in the back of her mind was sounding alarms and a third little voice was inquiring as to the exact softness of Rey's lips.

But one of Rey's feet bumped into Jess's and she jumped a little. "Your feet are colder than a wampa's backside!"

"I grew up in the desert!" Rey exclaimed.

The two women looked at each other, then Jess started laughing. Rey's laugh quickly joined hers. Jess got up, untangling herself from the blanket and moving over to her foot locker. "What you need are some socks."

"I could just put my feet on yours, that would keep them warm."

"Yeah, and give me frost bite." Jess straightened, triumphantly holding up a pair of orange and white striped socks. They were by far the most ugly piece of clothing she owned, but they were _comfortable_.

Rey stared at them in disbelief before her face cracked into a beaming smile. "Those are the most _horrendous_ things I've ever seen! I love them!"

"I'm going to run out of clothing at this rate." She tossed the socks at Rey's face, but Rey's hand snapped out and caught them before they could hit her.

"You could stop lending me things," Rey suggested. She pulled the socks on and wriggled her toes in them. They were warm and comfortable and she felt an odd little sensation in her stomach when she looked up at Jess again.

"The helmet was a gift," Jess reminded her. She sat back on the bed. "But the socks, I want _those_ back as soon as we requisition you some."

"Thank you." Rey's tone was genuine, and affectionate. She took Jess's hand between her own. "I mean it, truly."

Rey woke early in the morning, tangled in blankets, her back aching and neck cricked from the position she'd been in. Jess's head head was pressed into her shoulder and her hand was warm on her ribs. Carefully, and with great reluctance, she disentangled herself from pilot and fabric, and pulled on her boots.

Jess stirred and groaned. "Ugh, what time is it?"

Rey looked at the chrono, it's display too bright for the hour. "Oh five hundred."

" _Shit_." Jess stumbled out of bed and started pulling a change of clothing out of her footlocker. "I've got twenty minutes to hit the sonic before I need to report for duty."

"Sorry." Rey moved out of the way to give her room. "If you like I can get you a cup of caf. You look like you need it."

"Great, thanks." Jess turned and smiled. "Last night was fun. We should do that again."

"I'd like that...but it might be awhile." Rey fiddled with her sleeve. "I'm leaving this afternoon."

"...Oh." Jess hugged her clothing to her chest, trying to ignore the vice that had suddenly tightened there. She was just starting to get to know Rey, and she was leaving?

Despite the fact that she was leaving her friend (leaving almost all of the friends she'd ever made in her entire life), Rey couldn't help but grin. "I'm going to find Luke Skywalker." She grabbed Jess by the shoulders, squeezing tightly and word by word she lit up. "I'm going to find him, and I'm going to train, and I'm going to bring him _back_."

"You absolutely have to introduce us," Jess said, torn between sadness that Rey was leaving, and elation for her. "I'm kind of a big fan."

"I've noticed." Rey winked at her, and then she hugged Jess. Jess dropped her clothes to hug back, with no intention of letting go until she had to.

"Don't you need to use the sonic?" Rey whispered.

"It's okay, I'll just stink for today. … Do you want me to let go."

Rey closed her eyes. "No. Not yet."

The rest of Jessika's day went by in a blur. She'd done fuel inspection duty a hundred times before and it was as mind numbing now as it was each and every time. Three times in a hundred she'd found a problem or discrepancy and today wasn't one of those times.

A bustle of activity drew her out of the hangar, and she followed the crowd towards where the Millennium Falcon sat. She pushed her way through the crowd, and watched as Rey walked towards the ship. The other woman turned, and their eyes met. Rey smiled at her, nervous and excited, before she strode up the ramp, destined for the unknown.

The Falcon was long gone before Jess turned around. She walked slowly through the base until she reached the infirmary. Finn lay, still under from his last treatment. She hadn't been the first person with this idea. Poe sat nearby, shuffling a deck of cards. "Keeping an eye on him?"

"Until she gets back," Poe replied. But the way he looked at Finn told Jess all she needed to know about his motivations.

"Well someone needs to keep an eye on him for her," she said. "It might as well be us."

Poe grinned at her, then started to deal out the cards. "So, you wanna play for credits, clothing, or duty?"

"Loser has to tell Finn she's gone."

He shook his head. "I know him better. Let me."

"Fine. But I'm not betting any clothing." Jess shrugged, but then something ridiculous hit her. "My socks. She still has my socks."


	4. Path of the Jedi I

Rey had seen many, many sunsets on Jakku and a few on D'Qar, but this was the first that she'd seen one set over an ocean. The sun reflected on the water, golden red light on shimmering waves. All the green and all the water was overwhelming by itself, but the figure who sat silently across the fire was overwhelming in his own, silent way.

When she'd seen him, memories long buried had resurfaced, and Rey had burned with a thousand questions and a low, simmering anger that was only now beginning to cool. It was replaced by a sharp pain in her chest and tears that threatened to spill out at any moment.

They ate in silence, Rey devouring her food as if there wouldn't be a meal tomorrow, and Luke taking a steadier approach. He could sense her questions, her unspoken accusations. He set his bowl aside, voice gravelly from disuse. "I know you have a lot of questions. I have many of my own."

All of Rey's emotions boiled over into one unsteady word, spoken with a quivering voice and accompanied by hot tears streaking her cheeks. " _Why_ "

Her throat bobbed, and she found more words, each as painful as the last. " _Why did you_ _ **leave**_ _me?"_

The pain in Rey's voice tore at Luke's heart. She deserved the truth, she deserved so much more than what she'd been given in her life. "It wasn't because I wanted to."

Rey folded her arms, changing to a cross legged sitting position and staring at Luke as she waited for him to continue.

"Through the Force, we are often given glimpses of events. Past, present and future." Luke gestured with his hands, as if to draw attention to the world around them. "Sometimes, they're warnings. But they're rarely clear."

"You… saw something. The future. What did you see?"

"That someone would betray me. I didn't know who, and the domino effect that would lead to that event were obscured." Luke lowered his hands, and rested them on his knees. "With every choice I made, that reality became clearer, and clearer. I had those who were already advanced in their training go into hiding. Others I hid, or had those I trusted hide."

"Like you hid _me_?" Rey's face contorted. There was anger there, dangerous anger. Emotions that would have to be worked through before any true lessons could begin.

But unlike those of the past, Luke knew that emotions weren't a weakness to be repressed and that there would be more danger in Rey burying her feelings than accepting them.

"Yes, and no." He waited, but Rey remained silent. "I sent you away to protect you."

"Why Jakku? Why that wasteland?"

"I saw a woman in the desert. Alone and lonely, but with durasteel in her core. I let the Force be my guide." And for the first time, really, Luke's face gave way to what he was feeling inside. Regret and sadness, but also pride. Luke had grown up in the desert, but the desert had raised Rey and some day she'd be better than him. In all the ways that counted and so many more. "There hasn't been a day since that I haven't thought about you. Tried to watch over you."

Rey studied him. Fresh tears pricked at her eyes and she realized the bowl she was holding was shaking in her hands, so she set it aside. "I used to dream of the ocean, and of an island. This ocean. This island. That was you. Reaching out to me. It was the only time I didn't feel alone."

"Rey, you have been watched over all of your life. And not just by me."

And Rey remembered some nights, where she'd be sitting on her AT-AT shelter, and she'd see a figure or figures in the distance. Soft blue glows, wavering in the night. Sometimes they were taller, and other times they were shorter, but she'd always felt safe when they were around. "I used to see things when I was younger. But in recent years it hasn't been as often."

"The Dark Side is clouding everything, again. It makes it harder for old friends to visit."

"I felt it, the Dark Side," Rey whispered. "It was so cold. And yet it felt like a promise of home. All I had to do was kill Kylo Ren where he lay."

"How and why you kill someone is often as important as the act of killing them itself," Luke explained. "In combat, in a fight, it happens. You deal with it as it comes. But in anger, or hatred, or when your opponent is already beaten and injured that's where you can lose yourself. That's where the Dark Side is strongest."

Rey hugged her legs, closing her eyes. "But he killed Han Solo. He deserves to suffer for it."

"I know what he did." There was pain in Luke's voice. The pain of losing a friend, a brother, of a man he'd loved. But there was also sympathy. "But that doesn't mean he should suffer. Kylo..Ben, is lost. Confused."

"But he destroyed everything! The Jedi! Everything you worked for!"

Luke stood slowly, and approached Rey. He held out his hand. "Not everything. As long as I have love and forgiveness in my heart, as long as there are others who understand the same, then there's hope."

Rey looked at his hand, then took it and let him help her up. She wanted to hold onto her anger. She wanted to hate him for abandoning her, for not being there. But he'd always been there, she'd just made herself forget it. Rey let go of Luke Skywalker's hand,then embraced her father. And both father and daughter wept.

He'd always known that he couldn't run from his past forever. That his daughter would actually find him one day and that she'd need training. But training her in the Force, training her to be a Jedi, brought back many memories, painful and otherwise. One surprising difficulty was in thinking of her as "Rey."

Once she'd seemed calmed enough, Luke started by having Rey show him what she could do already. How she fought with her staff, and what she could do with the Force. He listened intently as she told him of Starkiller Base. Using a mind trick and calling the Lightsaber to her. She spoke haltingly of the vision she'd had when she'd first touched it. There were questions in her eyes, but she wasn't ready to ask them yet.

On the third day, Chewbacca scaled the steps with the droid on his back. The Wookie's hug was rib crushing, but so was Luke's. Chewie was a friend. Was _family_. And seeing the little droid who'd been through so much with him nearly brought the old jedi to tears.

"He's really missed you," Rey said, poking at a pot over the fire, and beaming over at Luke and the others. She meant R2, but it was clear that Chewbacca felt the same way. He roared in agreement.

"This little droid has seen more than most people." Luke replied. "He and Chewie are both family."

Rey's smile shifted, becoming a little sadder. "It feels like my family keeps growing." And it had lost one before she'd really gotten to know him. Han had been her...Uncle. That was still something that didn't quite fit yet. She sat down on a stone slab, and hugged her legs. Her father was a Jedi, her aunt a General, and her Uncle had been the best smuggler the galaxy had ever seen. But she knew absolutely nothing about her mother. She didn't know how uncomfortable a subject it might be, but she wanted to know.

Still uncomfortable with calling him 'father', Rey asked, "Luke...what was my mother like. Did you love her?"

Luke exchanged a look with the Wookie, then sat down across from Rey. "You know, I wanted to ask the same of _my_ father. I never got the chance while he was alive. And it's harder to ask him now, with the Force so clouded. And back then I don't know if he was ready to talk about her yet, or not. But R2 knew her. And he knew my father before he fell."

The droid beeped excitedly, rocking back and forth. It was hard for Rey to keep up. "She was a _queen_? My grandmother?" Did that make her a princess?

"Queen of Naboo, and later Senator. With R2's help, Leia and I found as much information about her as we could." It felt like they'd come to know their mother through her deeds, and through the people who'd known her. She became more than the woman who'd died giving birth to them. Padme Amidala was the woman who'd fought against Tyranny every step of the way. She was an inspiration.

Luke smiled, and reached for the pot. "As for your mother...she was a pilot for the Rebellion. We met after Yavin and the Death Star. Flew on a few missions together. _Great_ pilot. The Rebellion would have been lost without her."

Rey didn't like the past tense, but she didn't say anything and simply let Luke talk about his mother and her mother. She picked up her bowl to fill it from the pot.

R2-D2 beeped again and Rey started, then turned and stared at him. Her voice was filled with awe and disbelief. " _She_ was the one that stole the Death Star plans?"

"Yes, though she wasn't alone," Luke confirmed.

Her parents were heroes. _Legendary_ heroes. And who was she? Just some scavenger from Jakku. Rey looked over to her pack, where the lightsaber had remained since she'd first offered it to her father. She lifted her gaze back to him. "...where is she now?"

Meeting her gaze, Luke's face was a conflict of emotion. "I don't know. She was the one that took you away. She never came back."

"But you must have felt it. With the Force, if she was dead."

"I would have, and that gives me hope." Luke fell silent, finishing his stew. He still hadn't answered the other part of Rey's question, and he didn't know how to do so, exactly.

Rey still had more questions. If Luke was a legendary Jedi, how had she come to be? "Aren't the Jedi supposed to be above love? Isn't what what doomed them, and doomed my grandfather?"

"Love is what redeemed Anakin Skywalker, not what destroyed him." Luke stood, and held out his hand. "Walk with me."

They walked to the outskirts of the camp, and towards the cliffs where moons hung low over the sea. Rey wrapped her arms around herself, shivering in the cold. But at least her feet were warm. "I don't understand."

"I loved your mother. She taught me many things about myself," Luke explained. "But my love for her was not the same as Leia's for Han. Nor the same as how I love Leia. Love can take many forms. Family. Friendship. Lovers. Comrades. Love isn't a weakness, it's a _strength_. By denying themselves that strength, the Jedi Order lost their way." Luke smiled at her, watching her out of the corner of his eyes. "There are people you're thinking about."

Rey stiffened, then looked down at her feet. "Yes. Finn. He's a stormtrooper who defected. We've saved each others' lives several times. He's a good man, with a good heart. I wouldn't have lived if he hadn't used your lightsaber to protect me."

Luke raised an eyebrow at that, and filed that knowledge away. "Anyone else?"

She glanced back at Chewbacca. "Our fuzzball there. … Han. I almost… I almost started to see him as a father, before he'd died."

Her vision blurred as she looked at Luke, half in grief and half in guilty apology. Luke simply smiled again, and put his hand on her shoulder. "I know what that pain is like. I felt the same way when Ben died."

"And Leia..the General, she's been _fantastic_ to me. And Finn's pilot friend, Poe. He's my friend now too. And there's this woman. Jess. She makes me feel light and fluttery inside." Her vision had cleared, but emotion still colored her voice. "I've never had so many friends before. There were...two once, but leaving Jakku was more important to them then I was."

She hadn't wished either of them any ill will, and could only hope that they'd made it and were out there somewhere, safe. "I guess...I love each of them in different ways." Rey felt Luke put his arm around her, and she leaned into the embrace. Maybe she could learn to love him, too. "...can I call you father?"

Sudden emotion swept Luke up like a storm. His voice shook, and tears threatened to spill down weathered cheeks. "I don't know if I deserve it...but I'd like that."


End file.
